Pima County v. Grossetta

In Pima County v. Grossetta, 54 Ariz. 530, 540, 97 P.2d 538, 542 (1939), the Arizona Supreme Court explained that the board of supervisors also has the power to retain outside litigation counsel even without the consent of the county attorney. The supreme court stated that the board of supervisors is the "final authority" in controlling the cases in which the county has an interest, and it reasoned that: It may frequently occur that the county attorney has one idea as to the advisability of bringing an action for the county, or as to how it should be handled, while the supervisors have a different one, so that there would be a lack of harmony between them. Under such circumstances it would seem that the public interest would require that the men who had the final authority in all matters in regard to the action should be allowed to choose the counsel who actually handled its legal phases. Since there is no specific prohibition against it in the statutes, we think A.R.S. 11-251(14) gives implied authority to the board of supervisors in its discretion to employ counsel in the handling of all matters to which the county is a party. Id.